Portfolio Insights:“Hood College of Frederick, Maryland was founded in 1893. It is a private institution of higher learning with an established tradition of providing a comprehensive academic program in the liberal arts and professional studies to approximately 2, 500 undergraduate, graduate, and adult learner students.

Pooled endowment funds are invested on the basis of a total return policy to preserve and enhance the principal of the funds. The income from the investment pool is proportionately allocated to the individual funds and appropriated for use according to the spending guidelines of the Board of Trustees.” (Source)

1) Most of Hood’s endowment funds are invested in a balanced blend of high-quality, readily marketable stocks, bonds and other assets. Each year Hood College spends part of the endowment earnings on current operations and on the purposes designated by donors. The amount to be spent, called the payout rate, is set by the Board of Trustees to secure maximum purchasing power of the endowment. Hood College avoids dipping into the principal of the endowment unless required to meet critical needs of the College that cannot be funded from current operations. (Source)

2) Hood College has received $2.5 million from The Hodson Trust that will go to academic initiatives and student scholarships.

The largest portions of the gift will go to the College’s nursing program, including $425,000 to help fund the Hodson Trust Professorship in Nursing; and $250,000 for equipment for a new nursing lab facility in the Hodson Science and Technology Center.

The gift also includes $400,000 to fund faculty research. The trust has provided nearly $1 million in recent years to create and sustain an endowment fund for the summer research institute, which supports important faculty research initiatives across academic disciplines. Also included in the gift is $925,000 toward the Hodson Trust Scholarship Endowment for student scholarships and $500,000 toward construction and upgrades to Tatem Arts Center and the Hodson Science and Technology Center. (Source)

3) This year, Hood’s gift will be devoted to the renovation and construction of the Hodson Science and Technology Center. Hood College President Dr. Ronald J. Volpe said, “Our new science and technology center recognizes the increasing importance of science and technology in the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore regions. It will help contribute to the advancement of Hood’s students and to the economic progress of the region and the state of Maryland. From the first gift it gave to Hood in 1936 to the very generous gift today, The Hodson Trust continues to play an important role in making Hood College a premier educational institution.” (Source)

4) Feb 9, 2015 – Hood College announced Monday that Andrea E. Chapdelaine, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Albright College, will serve as its 11th president.

Selected by the college’s board of trustees from more than 90 candidates, Chapdelaine will start her term as president on July 1. She will succeed Ronald J. Volpe, who is retiring after 14 years. Volpe was responsible for helping the former women’s college transition into a fully coeducational college in 2003. During his tenure, Volpe also significantly grew the college’s endowment, added men’s and women’s athletics teams and launched more robust academic offerings as well as state-of-the-art facilities.

A strong leader with more than 21 years of teaching experience, Chapdelaine started her career at Albright in 1998. She began as an assistant professor of psychology and climbed her way up to the top, first to associate professor then to dean of undergraduate studies and finally to provost and vice president for academic affairs. (Source)

5) An award-winning commercial construction firm has established an endowment fund that will partially support a head tennis coach position at Hood College. KBE Building Corporation, located in Columbia, Md., and Farmington, Conn., will donate $25,000 over five years to the KBE Tennis Coach Endowment Fund.

The firm has had a long history with the college, and recently completed the second phase of Hood’s $20 million campus-wide upgrade to its facilities. This summer KBE will begin the construction of six new tennis courts and renovations to the college’s Huntsinger Aquatic Center. The project is scheduled for completion in late August.

“We have a long-standing corporate policy of giving back to the communities in which we work,” said Mike Kolakowski, KBE’s president and CEO and a principal owner of the firm. “In the past, we’ve supported the Frederick Food Bank in recognition of our relationship with Hood, and now our team is very excited to be involved in this endowment-it’s an enduring legacy of which everyone is proud.” (Source)

About Richard C. Wilson

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